Annie turned two years old on Wednesday. Many people will tell you that a Newf is fully grown at the age of two. That may be true physically, but I’m here to tell you that the age of two is not the pinnacle of emotional development for a Landseer Newfoundland Ferret-Dog. If I had to venture a guess based on recent behavior, I’d say that 34 might be the age of enlightenment.

Annie is now very much a teenager. She understands the rules, but she can’t be bothered to obey them. She doesn’t grab every piece of underwear from the hamper like she used to, but she will grab a pair if she’s feeling spunky and ignored. She is no longer a rampaging menace in our house, but has grown into more of a patient, conniving menace. You know, like a dragon. The moment she starts hoarding treasure, my suspicions will be confirmed, but until then I’ll be keeping a careful eye on our suspected Draco Canis Ferritus. At any rate, we needed to celebrate the second anniversary of the she-beast’s hatching, and like any good celebration, ours centered around cupcakes. (more…)

Before we get started, I’ll need to get this out of the way: My family enjoys American Idol. I resisted, feeling that the whole reality show genre was positioned squarely beneath me, but my wife liked it, and the kids liked it, so my resistance waned. After finding myself watching from the doorway, pretending that I was on my way to do something more respectable, I finally had to admit to myself that I wasn’t nearly a high-brow in my television tastes as I had liked to think. (more…)